With the broad popularization of computers, particularly personal computers, and the use of printers, which are normally considered a necessary adjunct of such computers, the storage and feeding of continuous webs, usually in a fan-folded configuration, to the computer has been left largely to the ingenuity of the computer operator. Some attempts have been made to solve the problem of storage and feeding, as indicated by U.S. Pat. No. 4,458,814, which discloses a packing assembly for fan-folded printer webs, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,651,967 which shows a stand which can accommodate a printer and a supply of fan-folded printer paper. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 4,522,521 describes a printer stand including a storage area for fan-folded paper which also addresses the problem of computer printer paper storage and feeding.
Additionally, in the feeding of a continuous web of paper for any purpose, it is common for a substantial amount of static electricity to be generated, and a number of prior art devices have addressed this problem. See, for example, the early U.S. Pat. No. 1,573,414 for a static eliminator for use in conjunction with printing devices, another early U.S. Pat. No. 1,668,049, which is directed to a deelectrolizer for removing charges of static electricity from printing papers, U.S. Pat. No. 2,445,271 for static eliminating means, also useful with printing papers, U.S. Pat. No. 3,636,408 for a tape dispenser with a static electricity neutralizer, U.S. Pat. No. 3,757,164 directed to a neutralizing device for reducing the potential of static electrical charges present on a web of paper, U.S. Pat. No. 3,921,037, covering a moving web energized static eliminator, U.S. Pat. No. 4,073,001, disclosing apparatus for neutralizing and registering an electrostatically charged sheet, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,494,166, illustrating a printing machine with a static elimination system.
It will also be noted that U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,275 describes and claims a portable carrying case and sound shield for a printer with a self-contained support stand, which is said to protect a printer carried therein and is convertible from a carrying case into a printer stand.
Despite this intense activity in dealing with problems associated with printers, the storage and feeing of paper to printers and the dissipation of static electricity associated with feeding continuous paper webs, none of the prior art appears to have addressed these multiple problems in a single, inexpensive and yet efficient, combined portable unit.